a b c d e f g Jenkins, Nicholas. "Guy Maynard Liddell MC CBE CB (I16150)". Stanford University . Retrieved 5 November 2011. In the Great War Archer started serving in the ranks of the Seaforth Highlanders with whom he gained the Mons Star. In the Royal Field Artillery he gained his pilot's licence in 1915 and served in the Royal Air Force in South Russia. This continued after the war had ended and in 1919 he was awarded the OBE, followed by the CBE in 1920. Upon taking command in India he was in 1926 promoted to wing commander and he returned to Britain in 1931 to work in the Air Ministry. He retired from military duty in 1935 but continued in a civilian role. In 1940 he was re-commissioned as a group captain to serve throughout the war in the Directorate of Intelligence as liaison officer with MI5. [7] MI5 – clerk and officer [ edit ] You can also search the original SOE indexes in HS 11 to HS 20, which can list personal and biographical details of agents as well as contain references to the status of individuals who were known to be enemy intelligence officers, collaborators or traitors or who were in enemy hands or safe houses. 9.2 Other records For more detailed information on records of individuals for a specific agency see the following sections of this guide. 4. How to search for records

Generally the British and United States authorities co-operated well, particularly concerning the Bolshevik target, and their intelligence representatives in the Baltic states pooled reports. Between the wars, however, US-UK intelligence liaison was principally handled through the United States embassy in London, originally with Basil Thomson and Scotland Yard and more latterly with MI5. In October 1937, observing that the British had "for some time been seriously worried by the development of German Nazi and Italian Fascist organisations within the British Empire", Guy Liddell (writing from MI5 on behalf of Vernon Kell) proposed to N. D. Borum at the United States embassy that "the official exchange of information that has operated between us so successfully over a period of eighteen years on Comintern affairs" should be extended to cover German and Italian matters. Washington was not keen, distinguishing between the activities of the Comintern, with which the Soviet government had consistently denied any link, and those of German Nazi and Italian Fascist political organisations which were "admittedly connected with the political parties controlling the governments of Germany and Italy respectively".Defence Intelligence Staff Sub-Committee minutes of meetings, correspondence and other files in DEFE 27 His unhappy marriage to Hon. Calypso Baring was dissolved in 1943 after she had left him and joined her half-brother Lorillard Suffern Tailer in America. He subsequently fought a long legal battle for custody of their children. [1] [2] [3] Later career [ ] And yet after the war he came to grief. Assigned to an interrogation center at Bad Nenndorf in Germany, he oversaw the captivity of some of the worst Nazi war criminals. By 1947, the camp’s staff and budget had come under the axe; staffing was reduced by more than half. A number of inmates suffered severe physical abuse or malnourishment; two died shortly after being removed to a civilian hospital. Stephens and other officers in charge were court-martialed on various charges. Stephens was accused of professional negligence and disgraceful conduct, but a London court acquitted him.

In October 1940, MI5 moved offices from unlikely temporary premises at Wormwood Scrubs Prison to the even less likely Blenheim Palace. [25] At a top-level meeting at that venue in November Archer criticised Brigadier Harker, recently appointed acting director of MI5, for incompetence. Harker, who had previously been her head of division, then dismissed her. [5] [26] [27] Concerning this Guy Liddell, director of counter-espionage, wrote of Harker "but for his incompetence, the situation would never have arisen" but he also thought that Archer had "unfortunately gone too far". Shortly afterwards David Petrie was appointed as the next director general and Harker was made his deputy – indeed Andrew's view is that Harker's dismissal of Archer probably contributed to Harker being put out to grass. [note 2] For the rest of the war MI5 employed no other women as officers although several did work at this level of seniority. [29] Secret Intelligence Service [ edit ]However, reference is sometimes made to MI6 in files from other departments, such as in Foreign Office record series like FO 1093, which provides an illuminating account of the activities and funding of MI6. Search for “Secret Intelligence Service” or “MI6” in our catalogue to reveal some of the related material. 6. Joint Intelligence Committee records In 1919 Liddell joined Scotland Yard as a subordinate to Basil Thompson in the directorate of intelligence. Later Liddell became the liaison man between the police, the Special Branch and the Foreign Office. In this role he was involved in exposing the spying activities of the All Russian Cooperative Society, a spy ring based in London. According to Nigel West: "He (Liddell) was responsible for co-ordinating the police raid on the Arcos building in Moorgate in May 1927 (which also housed the Soviet trade delegation), in pursuit of a missing classified RAF document. Although the document was not recovered, more than enough evidence was found of Soviet espionage, which was enhanced by the unexpected defection of a terrified code clerk, Anton Miller, who had been detained while attempting to burn incriminating files."

Brine, M. E. "Sidmouth War Memorial 1939 – 1945". Devon Heritage. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014 . Retrieved 29 October 2014. Every now and again the National Archive at Kew gives us a gem, a rare glimpse into our nation's recent past and today promises to be one of those days. I urge you to take your time as you read. You will find, that by doing so, you will be better able to absorb the characters crossing the stage and the myriad of complex issues that regularly consumed Liddell’s time and energy. There are a lot of them. The diaries are a master class for students and professionals alike. Let Guy Liddell educate you. You are in for a real treat. Guy Liddell Diaries After a tip-off, assumed to be from Philby, Burgess and Maclean fled Britain on 25 May 1951. As the net seemed to be closing in on Blunt, Liddell received a call on 13 July from George VI's private secretary, Tommy Lascelles. "I told Lascelles I was convinced that [Blunt] had never been a communist in the full political sense, even during his days at Cambridge," Liddell wrote in his diaries now released at the National Archives. So successful had Soviet intelligence been in infiltrating MI5 and SIS with the Cambridge Five that many at the KGB headquarters in Moscow believed that the Five were part of a "fiendishly clever" British plot and doubted the reliability of what they were being told. Because of this, and the need to tell Stalin what he wanted to hear, poor use was made of the high quality information they were receiving. [53]

He (Guy Liddell) would murmur his thoughts aloud, as if groping his way towards the facts of a case, his face creased in a comfortable, innocent smile. But behind the facade of laziness, his subtle and reflective mind played over a storehouse of photographic memories. (2) Peter Wright, Spycatcher (1987) He was accompanied by another double-cross whom we put up as a man interested in the Welsh nationalist movement.' By 27 October 1939, Liddell writes that the 'Snow' case looks promising. '"Snow" and his Welsh friend [retired police inspector Gwilym Williams] are to do a course in Germany on intelligence and sabotage.'